During the the revision process for my WIP, it became clear that a character that I loved just wasn’t working. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not make her fit with the story. Soon it became clear…Tia Lena had to die.

But why? I wondered. Tia Lena was fun, she had some great lines and always seemed to be there when the trouble started. But the thing that made Tia Lena fun also caused her demise. Other than a few fun lines Tia Lena didn’t really contribute to the story. She was a place holder for more important events. So… Tia Lena had to die.

A story that is filled with unnecessary characters becomes bogged down and difficult to read. During the revision process, an author must take a careful look at the characters populating the story to decide if they are truly important.

Here are a few things an author must consider with a character:

1. Do the characters help move the action forward? If every scene in a book must carry the action forward, your characters too must help the main character move toward the final end. Even an antagonist working against the main character serves this purpose by giving the character something to fight against, moving them to a new place in the story.

2. Do the characters provide help/aid/comfort or pain for the main character? My book was heavily populated with many characters already filling these roles.

3. If this character was not in the story, could someone else fill in instead? In my story, Tia Lena was only there to deliver some humorous lines. It was easy enough to give those lines to other characters in the story, thus making the other characters stronger in the end.

The good news for Tia Lena is that while she may be gone, she’s not forgotten. She is currently sitting with some of my other unused characters waiting for their turn. Let’s hope she doesn’t cause any trouble while she’s waiting.